Shingle



March 21, 1939. J, B. STEVENS SHINGLE Original Filed Jan. lO. 1935 Patented Mar, 2.1, 1939 UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE SHINGLE Josiah B. Stevens, Aurora, Ill., assignor, by menne .assignmentato The Le hon Company, Chicago,

Ill., a corporation of Illinois 1 claim. (o1. 10s-s) The invention lrelates to shingles and in its illustrated form is especially suitable for vsiding although it may be used for rooiing'as well. The

shingle is preferably made of a mixture of asbestos and Portland cement or similar materials, although it may be made of other types of roofing material such as asphalt, saturated and coated with felt, with or without a granule coating.

Two problems have long confronted the roofing and siding industry. One is to provide the maximum amount of protection with the minimum amount of material and the other is to provide shingles which may be easily and effectively laid, The present invention solves both of these problems by providing a shingle of a shape which may roughly be described as 'lV-shaped, thereby dispensing with all unnecessary overlapping. The main part, corresponding to the horizontal member of the T, is the exposed portion of the shingle and the auxiliary member. corresponding to the leg of the T, extends between the adjacent edges of two of the shingles, completely filling the space that would otherwise exist. The extensions save considerable labor in avoiding the necessity for ladding similar pieces separately. It is further desirable, particularly in connection with hard, rigid asbestos shingles which include Portland cement, that nailing holes be provided in the main part or body of each shingle.

With these and other objects in view the invention may consist of certain novel features of construction and operation, as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the specification, drawing and claim appended hereto.

In the drawing which illustrates an embodiment of the invention and wherein like reference characters designate like parts- Figure 1 is a plan view showing the shape of the shingle of the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan View of a roof illustrating the manner of laying the shingle of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a plurality of shingles in overlapping relation with aportion of one of the shingles broken away.

The shingle comprises a main body or longitudinal portion and an auxiliary portion I2 extending horizontally from one side edge thereof. The horizontal extension |2 forms the leg or vertical member of a T, which, roughly speaking, is the shape of the shingle. The body portion is provided with upper nailing holes i4 and with center nailing holes i6, located in the body portion on a horizontal plane with the extension l2. The extension is of general rectanguiar form having straight upper and lower edges and is of a length less than thel width of the main portion i0 so as to provide for the desired overlap of the overlying course of shingles.

In laying the shingles to form a roof, Figure 2I it will be noted that as a horizontal row o1 shingles is laid each successive shingle is located against the end of a horizontal extension i2 of the preceding shingle. If desired, the sides of the shingle may be provided with a marker such as a notch, to be outlined with either the upper or lower edge of the extension i2, but with the proportions illustrated this has not been found necessary. rlf'he shingle disclosed in the drawing may be properly laid either by placing its lower edge i8 in registry with the lower edge of a horizontal extension i2 of the row therebelow, which is clearly illustrated by the portion of the shingle broken away in Figure 3, or by slarly aligning extension l2 of the'shingle being laid with the upper edge 20 of the shingle underlying. Mistakes are further prevented by the fact that the nail openings i6 in the shingle being laid must register with the nail openings i 4 of the shingle therebelow. To avoid the necessity for undesirable accurateness the openings I4 may be one-fourth of an inch in size, whereas,

the openings i6 may be one-eighth of an inch in size. It will be understood that as each shingle is laid nails will be inserted through openings i6 of said shingle and through openings i4 of the underlying shingle, which will automatically register therewith.

In addition to the spacing function of extension i2, which is obvious from Figure 2, this horizontal member has an additional function best shown in Figure 3. Exponents have been added to the numbers indicating the shingle elements of Figure 3 for the purpose of distinguishing the individual shingles. Inasmuch as shingles |02 and |03 are laid on top of shingle i0l and shingle |||4 is on top of shingles l02 and |03, it is obvious that shingle Il!4 though overlapping shingle |01 is spaced therefrom by the thickness of the shingles between, namely |02 and |03. Without some filler in this space, wind, insects and perhaps water could get between the shingles. The horizontal extension |22 effectively prevents this by completely filling the space that would otherwise be void. The extension may therefore be considered as ailler strip integrally attached to the base |02 of the shingle. Although the shingle of the invention may be of almost any sise, the sise usually being determined by the appearance 4desired or by the ofthe material. and perhaps also by the sise of the producing machine, it may be well thesaheofanexamplstostate thesiaepreferred by applicant at the present time. The main portion is preferably sixteen inches in length by eight inches in width. The length ottheextensionordistanceml'igure Lispreferably iive inches, and a height of two inches for the extension or distance B, has been found adequate. When the shingles are laid it will therefore he observed that each shingle overlaps the shingles under each side row by one and onehali' inches.

The coverage of a given area by the shingle of the invention is very economical not only as conoerns the finished shingles, but also as concerns the blank from which the shingles are cut, for there is very little waste in the cutting of the present shingle. As a matter of fact, in asbestos shingles the pieces formed in the cutting are not wasted as they are cut before the cement has materially set and may therefore be put back into the vat to be mixed into new stock.

This application is a divisional of my Patent No. 2.068.657 granted January 5, 1937.

It is to be understood that many other improvements of the invention, including some in improved form. will be apparent, and in the course of time more will be devised by those skilled in the art. It is not desired that this invention be limited to the details described for its scope includes all such forms or improvements as come within the spirit of the following claim construed as broadly as the prior art will permit.

What is claimed is:

A surface covering comprising a plurality of shingles laid in overlapping rows, said shingles in a given row each including a body portion having the longer dimension of the body portion extending upwardly and'havlng an integral extension projecting from one long side substantially centrally of the body portion, the said extensions spacing the body portions of the shingles in a horizontal row by at least one-half of their width, the space between adjacent body portions above each extension being overlapped by the body portion of a shingle in the row above and said extensions each forming a illler strip between spaced body portions with the lower edge thereof-substantially coinciding with the lower edge of the shingle in the above overlapping row, and the upper edge of the extension substantially coinciding with the upper edge of the ,underlying shingle.

JOSIAH B. STEVENS. 

